Bruni's website crashes within minutes of opening

Experts revealed that the site, carlabrunisarkozy.org, which had been set up to promote Bruni's foundation to help France's "most vulnerable citizens", was not able to cope with the huge number of people visiting it.

The launch of France's First Lady Carla Bruni's website did not go so well, as the site crashed within minutes of opening.

Experts revealed that the site, carlabrunisarkozy.org, which had been set up to promote Bruni's foundation to help France's "most vulnerable citizens", was not able to cope with the huge number of people visiting it.

"Because of too many visits, the site ... is provisionally inaccessible," Times Online quoted a message as saying.

Those who got a brief look at the contents before it crashed, revealed Bruni-Sarkozy's depiction of herself as a philanthropist, egalitarian, fashion icon, avant garde artist and friend of the great and good.

The first page had an article about Jean-Paul Gaultier, the designer, and a photograph of Bruni-Sarkozy with Michelle Obama at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.

And in an apparent attempt to win the approval of a largely conservative electorate, it hinted that Bruni-Sarkozy, 41, was herself more moderate than her feminist forebears.

The pastel colours on the site appeared to drive home the message that the woman who has slept with the likes of Sir Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton is now a model housewife.

Her aides revealed the site was to promote her foundation, which has been set up to help France''s "most vulnerable citizens" by giving them "access to culture and education through the fight against inequality".

Bruni-Sarkozy who married President Sarkozy after a whirlwind romance last year, wants the charity to encourage underprivileged children to obtain places at elite higher education establishments.

She has promised funding to pay for tuition fees for the most promising pupils.

The website is also meant to underscore her work as first ambassador to the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a role she took on in memory of her brother, Virginio, who died of an Aids-related illness in 2006.

"We want to inform the general public of the causes which motivate Carla Bruni-Sarkozy by bringing together in the same space all the information about her activities," Julien Civange, a music composer and producer who created the site, said.

"The accent is on the causes she defends rather than on herself," Julien added.